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SpaceX crews working at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California were finalizing their preparations on Tuesday for the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday carrying an orbit of three radar observation satellites built by Canada.
A few minutes after takeoff on Wednesday morning, the first leg of the Falcon 9 will return to the Vandenberg landing zone for the second landing of the SpaceX rocket in California.
The Falcon 9 rocket, 229 feet (70 meters) high, is due to launch at 10:17 am EDT (07:17 PDT; 14:17 GMT) on Wednesday from the Space Launch Complex 4-East in Vandenberg, a military base around 140,225 kilometers north-east. west of Los Angeles.
There is a 13-minute launch window for the launch on Wednesday, otherwise the Falcon 9 rocket will have to wait to fly another day.
Three 3 152 pound (1 430 kilogram) satellites are packed on the Falcon 9 rocket to track a series of Canadian radar observation satellites launched since 1995.
The Radarsat Constellation Mission, or MRC, consists of three identical satellites built by MDA, a Canadian division of Maxar. The Canadian Space Agency is leading the project to provide radar images to the Canadian government as part of its national security, scientific research and environmental monitoring activities.
"We still have a lot of milestones to check in terms of control, but until now everything is fine," said Mike Greenley, MDA Group President, during a telephone interview Tuesday at the Air Force Base from Vandenberg.
The Radarsat Constellation mission follows Radarsat's previous radar observation satellites, Radarsat 1 and 2, launched in 1995 and 2007.
"This is extremely important for Canada," Greenley said of RCM.
The RCN project costs the Canadian government about $ 900 million ($ 1.2 billion Canadian), including satellite development, launch and seven years of planned operations, according to Steve Iris, RSM mission leader. at the Canadian Space Agency.
This makes the RCM one of the most expensive space missions Canada has ever conducted and one of the most expensive payloads ever launched by SpaceX.
Each RCM satellite carries a C-band radar instrument, with a network of deployable antennas, transmitters and receivers.
Unlike optical cameras, radars can see through clouds and make observations day and night. Radar instruments emit signals and measure waves reflected from the Earth's surface, providing information about structures, ships, forests, ice and crops.
"Earth observation is essential, and radar-based Earth observation gives Canada an excellent ability to manage the sovereignty and security of Canadians," Greenley said.
A dozen Canadian government agencies, including the military, use Radarsat data. This wide use should continue with RCM.
"In addition to our resource-based economy that requires monitoring of our forest, mining, energy and agricultural industries, our northern latitudes sensitive to climate change benefit from space-based radar systems capable of observing the Earth day and night by n & rsquo; No matter what time. conditions, "said Magdalena Wierus, project management engineer at the Radarsat Constellation Mission of the Canadian Space Agency.
Most of Canada's long coastline is in remote areas of the Arctic, away from earth observation posts.
"We have a low population density in northern Canada. There is not a lot of monitoring infrastructure, and this is where the impact of climate change, especially on permafrost, is most marked, "Iris said at a pre press conference -launch. "So, with the constellation mission, we will be able to monitor this area every day and watch for subtle changes such as soil deformation due to melting permafrost. We can do it four times a day, which is a huge advantage over what we are doing now. "
During the spotlight observation, each of the three RCM satellites has a better resolution in azimuth of 1 meter (3.3 feet) and a range of 3 meters (9.8 feet). This is comparable to the imaging power of Radarsat 2.
But with three satellites, the RCM can cover more territory.
"It's a three-satellite mission, each orbiting the Earth and spaced regularly, every 96 minutes at an altitude of about 600 kilometers," said Wierus. "One of the main improvements of the constellation is that together they are able to ensure an accurate visit to one point of the Earth every four days, compared to Radarsat 2, which makes an exact visit every 24 days.
"Now, why is it important? This is because we can use these images to measure changes in ground motion, for example, which can help us better understand what is happening on Earth, "she said. "The RCM has the ability to image a given location on 90% of the Earth's surface on a daily basis, but it will mostly mimic Canadian territory."
Along with maritime surveillance and environmental monitoring, the MRC satellites will monitor the movement of icebergs as well as the retreat and growth of glaciers and ice sheets. Observation satellites will also monitor natural disasters, such as floods, and detect water pollution.
"The main demand from government users was to cover Canada's landmass and maritime approaches on a daily basis, including Arctic images four times a day," said Wierus. "RCM is able to cover all areas of Canada in 24 hours, which was not possible with Radarsat 2."
Wierus said the Canadian Space Agency is examining ways to disseminate data collected by the Radarsat Constellation Mission outside the Canadian government, allowing scientists, businesses and the public to access RCM images.
In addition to the radar imaging sensor, each RCM spacecraft houses a radio receiver to collect identification messages transmitted by maritime vessels.
"If they are superimposed on the radar images, this can help locate the ships likely to have problems or unreliable vessels that do not want to be found," said Wierus.
According to Greenley, MDA is helping the Canadian government develop an open data access policy for the MRC. Radarsat 2, which is still operational, is a commercial satellite that has been partially funded by the Canadian government, with additional private sector investment from MDA, which is now part of Maxar.
MDA owns Radarsat 2, while the Canadian government owns the MRC satellites.
The Canadian government claims to use approximately 250,000 RCM images per year, more than the government's demand for imagery from previous Radarsat missions.
Wednesday's launch will be SpaceX's seventh mission of the year, and the company's second since Vandenberg in 2019.
After take-off, the Falcon 9 rocket will head south over the Pacific Ocean, propelled by 1.7 million pounds of thrust from the nine main Merlin 1D prime-stage engines, engulfing an over-fuel kerosene mixture. cooled and liquid oxygen boosters.
The launcher, scheduled to depart on Wednesday from the Radarsat constellation mission, will use a first-stage accelerator that had already flown on March 2 as part of a mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to send the first SpaceX Cox Dragon spacecraft on an unmanned test flight at the International Space Station.
At T + plus 2 minutes 13 seconds, the main engines of the first stage stop, followed by separation of the servomotor about four seconds later. The second stage of the Falcon 9, powered by a single Merlin engine, will ignite at T + plus 2 minutes 24 seconds to accelerate the RCM satellites into orbit.
The composite protection shield that covers the RCM satellites at launch will be dropped at T + plus 2 minutes 49 seconds after the rocket has passed over the dense lower layers of the atmosphere.
At the same time, the first stage will begin maneuvers to return to Vandenberg. It will begin with a rescue injection using three of the first-stage Merlin engines to cancel the downward speed of the rocket and reverse its trajectory towards the launch site.
After the booster burn, the servomotor will turn on some of its engines for a first entry, then the central engine of the first stage will turn on for a final braking maneuver as it descends to a safe area. landing around a quarter of a mile (400 meters). from the starting point of Falcon 9 to Vandenberg Air Force Base.
After the deployment of a four-piece landing gear, it is expected to land approximately eight minutes after take-off of the Falcon 9 booster in Landing Zone 4, a former concrete circular platform. Space Launch Complex 4-West. The SLC-4E site was used for the first time by Titan rockets and now by SpaceX's Falcon 9 vehicle.
The planned landing of the rocket on Wednesday will be the second landing at Vandenberg of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster following the return of a first step on this site last October after the launch of an Argentinian satellite for observation of the Earth.
SpaceX recorded an additional 13 Falcon 9 rocket landings at Cape Canaveral after launching from the east coast, as well as 26 successful returns on the company's ocean-going drone vessels.
The company warned that locals near Vandenberg could hear a resounding sound as the rocket landed on Wednesday.
"It is possible that residents of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties will hear a resounding sound during the landing attempt," SpaceX said in a statement. "Residents of Santa Barbara County are most likely to hear the sound boom, although what residents live will depend on weather conditions and other factors."
The second leg of Falcon 9 will continue its mission with the RCM satellites, first placing the payloads in a preliminary parking orbit, approximately eight and a half minutes after the start of the flight. After flying over Antarctica, the upper stage will reignite for about 50 minutes after takeoff to inject the MRC satellites into an orbit of about 373 km (600 km) with an inclination of 97, 7 degrees compared to the equator. .
The satellites are mounted on a specially designed dispenser manufactured by Ruag Space, a company based in Switzerland, with a tilt mechanism ensuring that the RCM spacecraft has enough space to separate from the rocket into orbit .
The satellite separations are spaced about four minutes apart, the last of the three being scheduled for deployment after 62 minutes.
Canadian ground controllers plan to receive the first radio signals from satellites within two hours of launch to confirm that spacecraft are all alive and healthy.
The satellites will extend their flat-panel radar antennas to an area of about 9.5 square meters (100 square feet) in the first two days of the mission, according to MDA. The radars will be lit for the first time 10 or 11 days after their launch, said MDA officials, to begin the functional checks and to carry out the first test images.
The full commissioning and calibration campaign will take between three and six months, before the Canadian Space Agency will declare the RCN satellites operational and ready for regular observations, officials said.
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